Fly fishing mythos - "You need to match the hatch"

[JeremyW]

So I'm wondering why there is a bias toward only dry fly fishing when there is a hatch... maybe it's that guides I started with were not that good, or the videos that I 've watched always suggest matching the hatch, but I've caught a ton of fish by NOT matching the hatch.

In fact, I sort of can't believe the number of fish I have caught on dry fly stimis since I started. I only started a few years back, but I remember last year when I lived in Utah, fishing on the provo river with a size 12 purple parachute adams, just trying things out; I must of caught 15 brown trout of all different sizes, without a much of a hatch and with a fly that doesn't really actually look like a bug that hatches on that river. But Not just there, I've caught fish down in SNP all this winter, with few to no bugs hatching during that time. Granted we had a warm winter...

Don't misunderstand me saying you shouldn't match the hatch, when there is one, I also enjoy that... but if you like dry fly fishing, and are relatively new, give prospecting a go... the only place I'd maybe avoid just prospecting it is cold water spring creeks, as those fish have little reason to surface with all the food under the surface but who knows.

You might be surprised how often you'll catch fish on a dry when there is no hatch.

 

[wildtrout2]

Most of the time there is no hatch going on while I'm fishing my mountain freestone streams. I still do pretty well fishing dries though. Probably fish dries 90% of the time. Love the visual aspect of it.

 

[rrt]

You guys are both right; it is fun to "fish the water" with dry flies in many places in the absence of a hatch when the fish are not rising on their own.

Having said that, it is also at least as much fun matching a hatch that fish are already rising to. When the trout are rising to flies, it is fun -- and often challenging -- to toss the rising trout a fly that mimics the real one. The trout are expecting to see a certain form and color of fly during a hatch. This matching the hatch can be tough on heavily fished streams where the trout see a lot of artificial flies and have been caught and released a time or two. These trout become discerning and may not take one style of dry fly that they have seen previously, and you might have to use another style to match the hatching bugs.
This is, perhaps, the most challenging form of dry-fly fishing and is the form of fly-fishing that many flyrodders find addictive and that attracts them to fly-fishing.

I fish with nymphs most of the time. However, when I have the chance to fish with dries, either to the water or during a hatch, I take off the nymph of the day and switch to a dry fly. I may catch fewer fish that way when fishing the water than I would with a nymph, but as wt2 said, I like the visual aspect of this type of fly-fishing.

 

[JeffK]

IMHO, matching the hatch only matters in the super hatches like BWOs and sulphurs on tailwaters where the fish see the same bugs on schedule for months. In those cases the fish are more efficient feeders by targeting the most available food and can get in a groove. These fish can also be conditioned to be able to spot a fake more easily since these waters see plenty of fishermen and more importantly more good fishermen. I think most times feeding fish just grab anything that looks like food.

The other thing about matching the hatch is that the fish in many fertile streams at decent water levels only come up when there is a good hatch going on. For smaller, less fertile streams and in low summer water the fish may look up for anything that comes by, but brown trout in larger fertile streams don't seem to rise until it is worth their while. Brookies in headwater streams are more likely to be on the lookout for any protein they can find and more freely rise.

 

[wildtrout2]

Brookies in headwater streams are more likely to be on the lookout for any protein they can find and more freely rise.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

 

[tomgamber]

I think there is a great deal of validity to matching the hatch. I also have caught fish during a Sulphur hatch on an Adams and during Grannom's on a tan bugger. Some times its fun to think, "lets see if I can get them to take this." I do that a lot. More out of fun than anything else. I've been fishing for almost 40 years. I've done it the "right" way. It works. Sometimes winging it works too. I like to see what else works. Sometimes its just better to be lucky than good. I see no harm in that.

 

[Dr.J 1952]

I sometimes put on a dry fly as a searching pattern. I mainly use that starting out the day or on a stretch I’m not familiar with. If I get a refusal or a miss I know there is a fish around. Sometimes I even get takers. If a hatch is not prevalent, I’ll use a fly that represents a bug the fish may have recently seen like a BWO or caddis. I was nymphing on the Little Mahoning in Indiana County once using a red strike indicator. A fish came up for the strike indicator. I switched to a Red Humpy dry and caught him.

 

[shakey]

Matching the hatch with dries is the easiest way to catch fish, it’s that simple.
You don’t have to feel anything, you can watch the trout take the fly.
Definitely the best way for beginners to learn.

 

[Bamboozle]

I love where I live which is where I fish most often. You really only need to match three hatches, BWO's, Sulphurs and Tricos. The rest of the time you go with what you think will work.

"I don't need no stinkin' hatches..."

That being said I'd rather fish the water with terrestrials or a an attractor nymph than matching a hatch ANYTIME!

 

[dc410]

If you’re good at fishing wet flies you can fish them right through the “hatch” and more times than not catch just as many if not more fish, but you won’t catch them on top so it probably won’t be quite as cool! 😉

 

[Acristickid]

You’ve been to the Delaware or Penns Creek. Fishing the west is for the most part completely different.

 

[dudemanspecial]

I look at fly fishing as a spectrum. On the left end of that spectrum is euronymphing with micro leaders and perdigons. On the right end is dry fly fishing with natural material quill bodies and a bamboo rod. As I get older I find myself shifting more towards the right, but I am not quite all the way there yet. Where one is on that spectrum is ones personal place of enjoyment.

TLDR: Fish however you want.

 

[jifigz]

Okay, so, of course you can prospect with dries and catch fish in any sort of water at nearly any time of the year. April through November, at least. In the dead of summer and early autumn fish ant dry flies..... Thank me later. That's prospecting 101 and is some of my favorite dry fly fishing.

But at times matching the hatch is 100% necessary. If fish are keyed in on an insect and a particular phase of that insect's life and they are aggressively feeding all around you, you will NOT CATCH A FISH WITHOUT MATCHING THE HATCH. We've all been there, fish rising everywhere, a multitude of insects on the water, and the angler trying to figure it out to no avail.

Last June, for example, I was on Kettle. There were many kinds of bugs hatching and fish rising everywhere. I threw every dry I had and got ignored. I threw nymphs, swung wets/emergers, threw streamers. Nothing, yet fish were feeding everywhere. I finally sat down on a rock in defeat. I watched the stream go by and noticed dead spinners floating by one after another. I had to bum one off someone I saw (who was also getting skunked) and as soon as I put that rusty spinner on...BAM, I caught fish after fish with ease.

In that case, matching the hatch was the only way to catch a trout.

 

[troutbert]

So I'm wondering why there is a bias toward only dry fly fishing when there is a hatch... maybe it's that guides I started with were not that good, or the videos that I 've watched always suggest matching the hatch, but I've caught a ton of fish by NOT matching the hatch.

In fact, I sort of can't believe the number of fish I have caught on dry fly stimis since I started. I only started a few years back, but I remember last year when I lived in Utah, fishing on the provo river with a size 12 purple parachute adams, just trying things out; I must of caught 15 brown trout of all different sizes, without a much of a hatch and with a fly that doesn't really actually look like a bug that hatches on that river. But Not just there, I've caught fish down in SNP all this winter, with few to no bugs hatching during that time. Granted we had a warm winter...

Don't misunderstand me saying you shouldn't match the hatch, when there is one, I also enjoy that... but if you like dry fly fishing, and are relatively new, give prospecting a go... the only place I'd maybe avoid just prospecting it is cold water spring creeks, as those fish have little reason to surface with all the food under the surface but who knows.

You might be surprised how often you'll catch fish on a dry when there is no hatch.

You're post describes fishing when there is no hatch.

Matching the hatch is very relevant when there IS a hatch.

Regarding prospecting on spring creeks when there is no hatch. That can work very well with terrestrial patterns. And it can work well with tan caddis patterns through much of the season, even when you aren't seeing a concentrated hatch or trout rising. Because tan caddis are around in small numbers through much of the season.

 

[wildtrout2]

I can only wish I was the entomologist that Prospector is, and I don't have a lot of knowledge of the cycles/phases of the various flies, so bear with me. One of the freestones (wild browns) I fish occasionally has what I've been told is a Sulphur hatch that I can easily see, yet I never see trout rising to them. Are these trout taking the emergers of this fly and I'm just not aware of/seeing it?

 

[JeremyW]

You’ve been to the Delaware or Penns Creek. Fishing the west is for the most part completely different.

yeah no trees out west like out east...

 

[tomgamber]

yeah no trees out west like out east...

Seriously?

 

[jifigz]

Seriously?View attachment 1641229080

That sure do look like a place I'd like to wet a line....

 

[djs12354]

Ah, yes The hatch of the blue nose yellow bellies......

 

[JeremyW]

So there are far fewer trees in the Rockies, here Idaho, Utah, and YNP in WY. I guess I should've said far fewer trees; didn't think it would be taken so literally. Compared to something like Shenandoah National park, there are basically no trees... along the many rivers in the Rockies.

Except for the PNW where I used to also live, but most people don't think of fishing out "West" as fishing on the Wilson river in Oregon, or the Oly pennisula unless they are into Salmon / Steelhead.

The tree cover in the PNW is dense, hence spey rods...

But ...yes there are SOME trees, but it's not nearly as dense as the East, and additionally, there are large patches of river you can backcast freely many places in the Rockies from the bank no problem...